Homelessness is punishing in itself without the fear of being fined or arrested simply for surviving outdoors. On the other hand, abandoning public spaces — such as parks — to lawless tent encampments isn’t fair to residents, either.
That’s why we’re concerned about a bill making its way through the statehouse. While well intentioned, House Bill 1429 would restrict when governments can impose fines or criminal penalties on unhoused people for certain “life-sustaining activities” on public property — and in doing so may actually make it harder to address encampments in public parks.
Some Chicago neighbors who have been fighting to resolve sprawling tent cities compassionately view this seemingly well-intentioned legislation — House Bill 1429 — as another potential obstacle. The bill wouldn’t bar cities from clearing encampments or moving people, but it does prohibit ticketing or arresting unsheltered individuals for basic survival activities, broadly termed “life-sustaining activities” in the legislation.
It defines “life-sustaining activities” expansively to cover essentially all basic human behaviors required to survive outdoors, such as sleeping and eating. But it also goes beyond basic survival to include storing personal property, which in practice is how encampments form and persist, as well as “protecting oneself from the elements,” which is incredibly broad and could create ambiguity around enforcement of activities like using propane tanks or open flames in the parks.
The bill also would require advance notice (generally seven days) and outreach before enforcement, absent an emergency, creating “a system where action can only be taken after a problem occurs, instead of allowing communities to prevent issues before they escalate,” said Restore Gompers Park Coalition’s Lynn Burmeister, whose group has long advocated for housing and services for people living in the encampments in addition to safety for neighbors.
Meanwhile, the encampment problem on the Northwest Side has become unsafe, untenable and unchanging. When the city clears one encampment, another pops up, often nearby.
With these settlements come reports of unsanitary and dangerous conditions, including reports of public sex, drug and alcohol use, and fecal matter in the parks.
In March, a fire destroyed 15 tents at Legion Park, with “dozens” of propane tanks found on the scene, according to Block Club Chicago. It wasn’t the first blaze in the park — in July 2025, another fire took place at a Legion Park encampment, sending smoke pluming up into the sky. Propane tanks were also found on that scene.
“It’s a regular occurrence,” Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Kelly Burns said at the time. “It’s tents, wood, open flames, I mean it’s kind of a recipe for disaster.”
While some progress has been made on the Northwest Side, including the removal of the Legion Park encampment, the problem is still visible and distressing in other parks. Anyone passing through the neighborhood around Foster Avenue and Pulaski Road can’t help but see the encampments at Eugene Field Park, which have spread out along bridges and pathways and the North Branch of the Chicago River. You don’t see the park — you see the tarp.
This is not how our public parks are meant to be used.
“Leaving individuals in tents — without sanitation, security or support — is not a compassionate solution,” advocates from the Restore Gompers Park Coalition submitted March 26 in written testimony to state legislators, adding they oppose legislation that would allow parks “to become de facto permanent encampments without proper enforcement.”
That’s a good point. Policies that make enforcement slower and more difficult don’t eliminate encampments, they tend to entrench them. The bill has other prominent opponents, including the Illinois Municipal League, which argues that the bill would “prevent local governments from solving local problems” by preempting local rules.
Supporters argue the bill would protect vulnerable people from being punished for basic survival, but it would do so by limiting the tools cities use to manage shared public spaces.
The uncomfortable tension here is that this bill prioritizes the rights of unsheltered individuals without equally addressing the effects on other people who use public spaces — including kids who play in the parks and compete in Little League matches on nearby diamonds, as well as visitors to the city.
We understand the good intentions that drove this bill into existence. And we understand the impulse to put all municipalities on a level playing field on this issue, given concerns that Chicago bears a disproportionate share of the region’s unsheltered population.
But in Chicago, our challenges in the parks stem from the city’s failure to enforce its own rules.
Chicago already has rules on the books governing many of the conditions now seen in encampments. Open fires and the use of propane or other fuel sources are generally prohibited in parks without permission. City rules prohibit unsafe or unpermitted structures that pose risks to public safety, and sanitation laws bar the accumulation of waste that contributes to pollution, fire hazards and rodent infestations.
Parks are supposed to be closed overnight, typically between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and erecting tents or other structures without permission is not allowed. While enforcement is often complicated by legal and practical constraints, these regulations provide the city with tools to address dangerous conditions.
Enforcement alone isn’t a complete solution — without adequate shelter and services, the cycle will continue — but failing to enforce even basic safety rules is a major reason why the problem has gotten so bad here. And enforcement would become harder under HB 1429.
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